Political interview with Jane Ellison: 'FGM is child abuse but because of cultural sensitivity we've failed to protect vulnerable young girls'

The passion is clear from the moment Jane Ellison starts talking about what she aims to achieve as David Cameron's new public health minister, charged with preventing one of the country's most secretive and barbaric practices.

"Female genital mutilation is child abuse. There is no question," she says, wincing, before continuing to explain why she is so determined to end decades of failure to protect victims.

"For girls who have suffered the most extreme kind, you are looking at a life of constant pain. Every time I talk to somebody in a school or a community group who tells me about a girl who is going to be taken off to be cut, I think this is why we have to make progress."